Weed suppressant fabric?

[blackdog043]

If your worried about the hemlock I would leave the fabric. You can make it a deep litter run, by adding more wood chips, untreated grass, leaves, twigs/small branches, natural pine bark (for bigger pieces), some straw. Once it gets deep enough, they may not get to the fabric.

 

[jeria]

No idea on the chickens but one of my dogs made it her mission to dig up weed block fabric under a wood chip covered small patio area and shred it. I had put it in the year prior to getting her as a pup. She is now 4 the woodchips have been replaced by patio tiles I'm still finding shreds of the fabric in my yard that managed too get buried under the mulch in the gardens. Those pieces get everywhere and do not degrade easily.

 

[Hamiam]

Nothing at all is present in the pen itself now, not a blade or leaf of green to be seen, and I now regularly check and pluck out ANYTHING green, just in case. Hemlock kills through respiratory paralysis, a terrible, terrible way to see an animal die I shall never forgive myself for killing my beautiful bunny boy with ignorance....
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We also obliterate all weeds that grow within about three feet of the pen but there is still the chance of self-seeding, hence why I would prefer to keep the suppressant as long as it is not a threat in itself.

What a sweet bunny!

 

[happyhens1972]

.Thanks for your comments everybody. I am getting more wood chip delivered on Wednesday so may go some way towards the 'deep litter method' at least. I'm not sure it will reach quite the depth mentioned but we'll see how it goes. I can always add more later. At the moment, the kick boards are not sufficiently high to take too much more litter without it spilling out everywhere, causing a mess and potentially damaging our mower, as the pens are surrounded by grass on three sides. If necessary, I can add another layer of kick boards and add more litter but maybe need to 'suck it and see' first.

What a sweet bunny!

Thank you for your comment Hamian, darling Lenny was a very sweet bunny, a giant French Lop who loved fuss and attention and lolloping around with his girl, Lola. He died in the most awful way and taught me an extremely painful lesson....ALWAYS check your critter runs for the nasties! Unfortunately, we also have a lot of perfectly harmless cow parsley growing in the area and it looks almost identical to hemlock so i didn't realise the danger until it was too late.

 

[Percheron chick]

Add another load of chips then in the spring as you start work in the yard and garden just dump the waste into the run. You could also start a compost pile inside the run to direct most of the scratching. Make a raised bed frame and just start dumping everything in it.

 

[happyhens1972]

Add another load of chips then in the spring as you start work in the yard and garden just dump the waste into the run. You could also start a compost pile inside the run to direct most of the scratching. Make a raised bed frame and just start dumping everything in it.

Hmmm, maybe a raised bed frame for compost....that might be a good form of entertainment for them and would keep things contained but my hubby would throw a fit at the 'dump waste into the run' idea as we like things to look a little more 'manicured'.

 

[Percheron chick]

He needs to loosen up. Enjoy it now. Chickens will toss everything out making things just right. Then they poop on everything. Situate the frame so you can't see into it. You have a beautiful set up and i get it that you don't want to make it trashy but a healthy active compost pile is better then the alternative. ( they do not stink either)

 

[happyhens1972]

He needs to loosen up. Enjoy it now. Chickens will toss everything out making things just right. Then they poop on everything. Situate the frame so you can't see into it. You have a beautiful set up and i get it that you don't want to make it trashy but a healthy active compost pile is better then the alternative. ( they do not stink either)

Sssssh, don't go telling him they'll toss everything out and poop everywhere! I'm trying to break him in gently!

I had 24 chickens and 40 quail before but they lived at my work place so hubby hasn't really done chickens 'close up' yet. We do have a healthy, active compost pile as we have four goats, three alpacas and two French Lop rabbits, all of which keep the compost very much alive but it is in a different area, far from the house and out of sight, behind strategically placed fencing and hedging....whereas the chicken pen will be in prime sight to all

 

[Percheron chick]

I won't tell.

 

[happyhens1972]

I won't tell.

Thanks. I'm hoping he'll be so besotted with the chooks, he won't notice the rest. It worked with the 'pacas and goats so fingers crossed